Gig w John Stowell
John Stowell, a wonderful guitar player from Portland Oregon came out to Kansas City and we played a clinic, gig and session together. Here’s a few tunes that I recorded using my little mp3 recorder. ~ Enjoy! w Gerald Spaits
Play Along CD – in 4/4
This is the first “play along” that I’ve produced for both practicing and teaching. I’ve been using Drones and Pedals with a metronome for years but now I’ve started using this play along for the same basic purposes. The bass
Double EP
This first group of songs was recorded in 2002 for a demo with Bruce Saunders (guitar), Mark Ferber (drums), and Yoshi Waki (bass). I recorded a mix of standard jazz tunes plus the first recorded version of “End Class” which
Lesson 65: Stage Fright
Some of my students and many professional musicians and hobbyists that I know, experience a lot of stress, anxiety and general nervousness prior to, and during music performance. This short post will examine a few strategies that I have used
Lesson 64: Book ii-V-I
In this lesson we’ll look at the first ii – V7 – I melody found in the “Modern Jazz Vocabulary vol. 2” book. This melody is comprised of major 1st inversion triads descending by half steps and a few chromatic
Lesson 63: Nat 9 ~ Flat 9
In lesson 63 we look at a simple melody that uses both the natural 9 (the #11) and the b9 on a dominant 7th chord. Within the first bar of this melody a major triad a whole step above the
Lesson 62: Masterclass
I had the honor of doing a masterclass at Casa Valdez Studios while in Portland earlier this month. We talked a lot about singing over droneswhile visualizing the related fingerings on your instrument. Using this method to learn to hear
Lesson 61: “Drop 2” Voicing
While working on major 7th and minor 7th “drop 2” chord voicings, I found a nice shape to work on through the keys. Drop 2 is a great way to voice chords and has been used in classical and
Broken Waltz ~ 4 Stars in Downbeat!
I’m happy to announce that the new CD “Broken Waltz” is finished! In an effort to make the music affordable for anyone and everyone, I’m offering both the CD and all the sheet music for a modest donation of ANY
-Lesson 60: Diatonic Sequence
This lesson covers a great melody from one of the Bach Cello suites which has been extended slightly to cover the whole major scale. The sequence outlines the main seven chords found in the major scale (in the key of
-Lesson 59: Spread Tri-tone
I thought it might be nice to work with a variation on Lesson 1 (Spread Triads) – In this exercise we play spread major triads a tri-tone apart, a sound which will work nicely over a dominant 7th chord with
-Lesson 58: Triad Diminished
This is a nice triadic idea that works through a dimished scale. By simply playing 2nd inversion major triads down by minor thirds you get a nice melodic line that clearly outlines the 4 major triads found in diminshed harmony.
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